PICEA RUBENS

(Redirected from Red Spruce)

'''Picea rubens''', commonly known as the 'Red Spruce', is a coniferous tree in the pine family native to eastern North America. Specifically, its habitat ranges from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina. It grows from 18-30 m high and has a trunk diameter of about 60 cm, though exceptional specimens can reach 46 m tall and 130 cm diameter. It has a narrow conical crown. It grows at a slow to moderate rate, lives for 250 to 350 years, and is very shade-tolerant when young. It is often found in pure stands or forests mixed with Eastern White Pine, Balsam Fir, Fraser Fir or Black Spruce. Its habitat is moist but well-drained sandy loam, often at high altitudes. Red Spruce can be easily damaged by windthrow and acid rain.
foliage

The leaves are needle-like, yellow-green, 12-15 mm long, four-sided, curved, with a sharp point, and extend from all sides of the twig. The bark is gray-brown on the surface and red-brown on the inside, thin, and scaly.
The cones are cylindrical, 3-5 cm long, with a glossy red-brown color and stiff scales. The cones hang down from branches.
It is closely related to Black Spruce, and hybrids between the two are frequent where their ranges meet.
Red spruce is used for Christmas trees and is an important wood used in making paper pulp. It is also an excellent tonewood, and is used in many higher-end acoustic guitars. The sap can be used to make spruce gum. Leafy red spruce twigs are boiled as a part of making spruce beer.
Red Spruce is the Provincial tree of Nova Scotia.

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See also
References and external links

See also



Gaudineer Scenic Area, a virgin red spruce forest located in West Virginia

Canaan Valley, West Virginia, site of a former extensive red spruce forest, perhaps the finest in the world

References and external links





Gymnosperm Database: ''Picea rubens''

Flora of North America: ''Picea rubens'' RangeMap:

Red Spruce - Atlantic Forestry Centre

Forest Trees of Maine - Red Spruce

''Picea rubens'' images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu

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